After the devastating earthquake and resulting tsunamis in Japan, many people in the U.S. are trying to locate friends an family in Japan.
The Red Cross reports that they are unable to help at the moment but point to some resources:
At this time the Red Cross in unable to accept inquiries to contact or locate family and friends in Japan. However, there are several resources available as follows. Inquiries concerning U.S. citizens living or traveling in Japan should be referred to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services at 1-888-407-4747 or 202 647-5225. For inquiries about relatives living in Japan who are not US citizens, encourage the members of your community to keep calling or to try contacting other family members who live in the region. Even though communication networks overloaded right now, the situation may change and access to mobile networks and the internet may improve.
The Red Cross also points to the Google Person Finder as a good resource. People can post that they are looking for someone, or that they have information about someone. You can find it here: http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=en - it's tracking around 7,200 records at the moment.
There's also a Facebook page now up for sharing information.
